2024-07-08

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Classes continue to be a bit small with many younger students on vacation during the summer break from school, but that’s okay. The remaining students are getting extra attention (whether they like it or not) tailored to their individual needs. One “core” concept seems to be getting a lot of play lately, so I’ll mention it here:

When turning, I’m encouraging (bordering on demanding) that students fully complete their turn and then step out into whatever stance is appropriate. Not only is it tactically correct (it prevents “blind” turning), but it also eliminates errors with stance width and hip rotation. Let me explain …

Take the 270° turn after the second kiai in Taikyoku Shodan. Many students begin to step out while they’re still turning. This leads them to lose balance during the turn, step into a stance that’s too narrow (further jeopardizing balance), and makes it impossible for them to counter-rotate the hip into the downward block they’re trying to make. Contrast this with fully completing the turn first, with feet still together, and then stepping forward to block. This approach reduces the “centrifugal” force trying to pull the student off balance during the turn and results in facing the correct direction with the hips square, ready to step out into an appropriately wide stance with counter hip rotation.

Once this approach is mastered, all that remains is to “smooth” it out so it looks like one continuous motion. And if those are enough benefits, there’s another: Teaching it this way makes it “transferable” to every similar turn in every kata.